Ritual self (“auto”)-sacrifice

The Aztecs firmly believed in giving in order to receive, in offering gifts to the earth in exchange for daily sustenance (food), and in paying the gods back for the sacrifices they had made at the beginning of the Fifth Sun for human life to begin. (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Pic 1: A priest goes to town on his tongue! Codex Telleriano-Remensis (Click on image to enlarge)

The ‘currency’ they used for these regular exchanges with their ancient gods was of course human blood, offered in the form of ‘tribute’ (the Aztecs used a special word here: tequitl, which includes the idea of fulfilling obligations to the world). Just as the Aztecs received a constant flow of goods, services and people from the four corners of their empire, so they felt it was their mission to provide their gods with a never-ending supply of ‘most precious water’ ( chalchiuatl) to fuel divine labours. Most of this, as we all know, came directly from sacrificial victims, whose hearts were cut, still beating, from their bodies and ‘offered hot like tortillas straight from the griddle to the Sun’ (Inga Clendinnen).

Pic 2: Tongue and ear piercing by two priests, Codex Magliabecchiano (Click on image to enlarge)

On a much smaller scale, but with no less dedication and reverence, however, the Aztecs performed ritual self-sacrifice (also called autosacrifice or blood-letting) on a daily basis, offering token gifts (drops of blood) to refresh and give thanks to the earth. Giving and taking, breathing in and breathing out, life and death, night and day - you can’t have one without the other...

In their own words, the Aztecs described human blood - very much a non-renewable resource - as ‘our redness, our liquid, our freshness, our growth, our life blood... it wets the surface, it moistens it like clay, it refreshes it, it reaches the surface... it strengthens one.’ It held a strong fertilizing power, reflected in the mythical first shedding of blood by Quetzalcóatl onto the dry lifeless human bones in the underworld to give them life...

Pic 4: Pricking the thumb with a cactus needle: detail from mural ‘El Pulque’ by Diego Rivera (Click on image to enlarge)

Using a maguey (century plant cactus) thorn or other super-sharp instrument such as the point of an obsidian blade, Aztecs (of all ages, save for very young children) would prick themselves in the tongue, ear, thigh, arm or other parts of the body too delicate to mention here, and offer humble gifts of blood to their gods, always in the presence of sacred images (every house contained these, no matter how poor).

Pic 5: Exchanging gifts - including human hearts within a flow of blood - with the Sun, Codex Laud (Click on image to enlarge)

Ultimately, though, only through death would humans be able finally to sign off their debt to their gods, returning earth-fed flesh and blood to the warm womb of the earth out of which it had been born...

Notes on the codex images• Main picture: human sacrifice, Codex Laud folio 8 (scanned from our copy of the facsimile edition by ADEVA, Austria, 1966; the original is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) • Picture 1: Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 9r: though dressed simply in a loincloth, the red leather tie binding his hair indicates he’s a priest. In one hand he holds a bundle of reeds or dry grass, while with the other he draws one of them through his tongue ‘in an act of ritual bloodletting’ (scanned from our copy of the facsimile edition by Eloise Quiñones Keber, University of Texas Press, 1995) • Picture 2: Codex Magliabecchiano folio 79 (scanned from our copy of the facsimile edition by ADEVA, Austria, 1970) • Picture 3: Codex Zouche-Nuttall folio 52: 8-Deer (‘Jaguar Claw’) uses ritual nose-piercing to raise his status to ‘tecuhtli’ (Lord) - thus claiming descent from royal Toltec-Chichimec ancestors - in order to secure a regular flow of goods from the coastal provinces to the Central Valley of Mexico • Picture 4: Detail of photo by Sean Sprague/Mexicolore (original mural in the National Palace, Mexico City) • Picture 5: Codex Laud folio 18 (scanned from our copy of the facsimile edition by ADEVA, Austria, 1966; original in the Bodleian Library)

Info from ‘Aztecs’ by Inga Clendinnen, Cambridge University Press, 1991

16 At 1.28am on Saturday June 4 2016, Rob wrote:

The pics can be interpreted as what you want but the meaning was there. I mean we all have publications of war within our history but never was a story told so old or so true... i believe some of the meanings have gone amiss, like the sacrifice or a heart, maybe that wasn’t a literal thing but a figurative thing, and when you see the world from your heart it changes perspective? Either way this seemed well informed without any biased opinions, which is nice in todays world :)

Mexicolore replies: Thanks, Rob, much appreciated.

15 At 12.34pm on Sunday February 28 2016, RainbowOcelott wrote:

Oh dear! How grotesque! I’m not from the uk *sigh*, but I’m glad I found your website! So very detailed, and it helped me on a project muchly!!!!!

14 At 9.05am on Wednesday August 11 2010, Crash wrote:

A quick question...I’ve heard different responses, but all from non-professional sources. I know that the Aztecs believed greatly in being brave, and enduring pain. If someone, either being ritually sacrificed on an altar, or doing smaller auto-sacrifice, were to cry out, would that ruin it for the Aztecs? Where they to not cry out, to show no pain, or was the willingness to offer ones self the most important part.

Mexicolore replies: Very interesting question! We hope to get back to you on this...

13 At 11.12am on Friday January 1 2010, dylan wrote:

Great ideas behind this site, however it’s a pity you have chosen to push the view that the aztecs sacrificed people. To this date there is no proper evidence for this claim. There are biased spanish accounts, theories, and misunderstood glyphs, but no true evidence.I study mexhika pactli from a mexican teacher and would encourage you to learn some nahuatl to see the true meanings behind the aztec names- not western theories. it’s funny how we cannot credit “savages” with using metaphors...

Mexicolore replies: Thanks for these points, Dylan. We’re slowly improving our Náhuatl as a team!I would encourage you to keep an open mind when it comes to sacrifices: scores of archaeologists, anthropologists and historians - many of them Mexican - have come up with plenty of very concrete evidence to support the claim. Just which ‘misunderstood glyphs’ are you thinking of?!

12 At 12.39am on Wednesday September 23 2009, Coatl wrote:

For the ones who understand and have read some about the culture, use the information for good, for the ones tat don’t know about the cultures of Europe(where most of the present US population come from, sacrifices and the shedding of blood had a meaning in the entire world, if you don’t know about it and don’t research it does not mean is wrong, every single culture in the old world did it for different beliefs. Remember, if you don’t read about it, you will not understand it!

11 At 5.41am on Tuesday June 2 2009, rebecca wrote:

i wouldnt like to have a peirsing because of all the blood

10 At 9.45pm on Thursday April 23 2009, ghostietheghost wrote:

This is brilliant. I’ve read three books about the Aztecs, for research. I wish I’d come to you first.

9 At 1.34am on Sunday March 15 2009, Samantha wrote:

amazing site. very detailed, and i can tell you have put in a ton of effort to make it the best possible.....well you effort has made a HUUUGGGGE difference and helped my entire class for a assignmnt worth a ton of marks. Thanx much!! =)=) i luv, luuv, luvvv the site!! keep up the awesoe work! :)

8 At 10.38am on Tuesday November 25 2008, Andres wrote:

I believe this is a great website; it contains much of the information in one place instead of jumping all over websites. I think the Mesoamerican culture has much to offer and much we can learn from them, they are the wise people of the west, the masters of awareness and were connected to nature. And if you really think about it, we are not much different than them, are we? Or perhaps our current cultures are the worst this planet has ever seen in any given time in humankinds existence. We live in fear, in “mental slavery”, in mental and physical abuse, and empires invade smaller countries. Famine, drugs and porn is a thing of the present, was it of the past? Awesome website!! Thank you!

Mexicolore replies: Thanks very much for writing in, Andres, and for your thought-provoking comments...

7 At 10.54pm on Tuesday July 1 2008, xochiqueztal-G3 wrote:

I wanted to thank the people that set this website up. Time has come to educate people of all races. How could you say that sacrificing is gross. Do you even know what it’s like to sacrifice yourself for your people. This is one of many reasons why we need to further educate people that do not know in their minds what truly lies behind a closed door. These indigenous people have suffered long enough...So next time you decide to pass judgement on someone’s culture why don’t you educate yourself and try to understand the unknown. Let’s not forget that these people who clean your house and raise your kids are the true Natives of this land (Arizona,Nevada,California,NewMex.Utah, Texas and so on!!!!) One Day Aztlan will rise again...and take back what once belonged to Aztlan(Mexico) PEACE KNOW THE TRUTH

6 At 1.16am on Monday June 9 2008, Peyton wrote:

This page is wonderful! I am doing a project for school about the aztec sacrifices, and this is the best information I have gotten! Thanks!

5 At 9.19pm on Wednesday May 21 2008, kinrayukar wrote:

To all EXCEPT Cehualli & the Responding Individual (in light blue bg color), you commentators know very little about this truly holistic culture, the people of Meso-America have a Cosmology that is unique and original amongst all civilizations, everything had meaning and purpose, compared to today, they lived rather than existed, please shine some light on your closed bud of a mind (water & feed it too), so it can blossom into something meaningful to yourself and others. To Cehualli, I second you on the necessity of keeping these images, I too do not want this Info and Imagery to be wiped from history EVER AGAIN! (The Researchers, Archaeologists, Historians, Professors toiled and labored in the pursuit of the truth to rebuild the Chronology of this culture, shame on you kids). There is a Reasoning that the Burning of the Library of Alexandria by the same ignorance that nearly genocided Mesoamerica, quite a few modern religions tend to over-shelter and over-protect the young to the point of making them into walking-talking Knee-Jerk Reactions (The Idiot, Moron, and Fool Reflex), to anything that scares them, they respond with ignorant hate, or immature quips (just like these comments, not Cehualli’s nor the blue bg replier’s).Sacrifice is a significant display of devotion to Family, Noble Causes, and paying respect to the Ancestors, please remember "Kids" you would not be here if it wasn’t for sacrifice of something important by your Parents and ancestors, it doesn’t have to be bloody to be a sacrifice. Children have to face truth and reality eventually, otherwise they won’t mature to adulthood. Thank You for the generous libation of knowledge that this page and site as a whole has provided to the Global Community.

Mexicolore replies: FYI, the replies in light blue colour are from us, Mexicolore! Your message is a powerful one, Kinrayukar, and we very much share your feelings on the importance of ‘making a sacrifice’ in life...

4 At 3.03pm on Friday May 9 2008, Anthony wrote:

this place rocks

3 At 4.52pm on Thursday May 8 2008, GeoAlis wrote:

I dont’t find it very suitable because of the violence ofstabbing and killing. Me and my friend are 9 and we find it reallydisturbing

Mexicolore replies: Thanks for being so honest, Alice. We know this is a difficult subject, but please remember these aren’t images of ‘murder’- they HAVE to be understood as part of a set of beliefs and customs going back many many centuries.

2 At 10.15am on Thursday May 8 2008, Cehualli wrote:

I think this is a well-written introduction to an important historical religious practice, and the images from the codices are a vital component of it. Please don’t remove them -- I can’t understand how they could possibly be more inappropriate for children to see than, say, Michaelangelo’s "David." Both are significant cultural artifacts with deep historical value.

Mexicolore replies: Many thanks for this support and encouragement, Cehualli.

1 At 12.00am on Friday April 18 2008, fusipala funaki wrote:

these pictures are really gross and are not appropriate for some people who are looking at this website

Mexicolore replies: Well, they’re the real thing! We’ve shown some of these in hundreds of English primary schools and never once had any complaint. How do others feel...?